Wrote this 11 JUN. Thought I'd finally post it. Nothing like a good ride report to help one relive the weekend.

Thursday
I was nervous and anxious in the days leading up to XSEast 2019, it was to be a long ride up, weather called for rain and cold, and I’d be ride captain for the weekend without the benefit of a GPS. I made cards for each day’s ride simplifying routes so I could memorize the turns.

I was leaving WashDC, Thursday evening after work. Heavy t-storms rolled through knocking down a tree on the powerline that feeds our street. Fortunately, I had everything laid out, I just had to pack it. Around 8:00 PM traffic looked to be moving on I-495/I-270 so I was off. As dusk approached north of Frederick I noticed dark grey clouds to the northwest. Hopefully only rain clouds, but a night fell they lit up with lightning. Stopped for gas around Gettysburg and checked WeatherBug. A nasty line of T-storms were bearing down on Harrisburg arriving about the same time as I would. On with the rain gear. I was to meet Keith - Wings30, at the Harrisburg EconoLodge. I arrived in a downpour, and as the parking lot was freshly paved, my foot slide out and the bike slowly went over. To stand up an FJR, turn off the bike, put it in gear, put your back against it and do a squat to get it back up. What I did was left it running trying to pull it up with the handlebars, redlining the throttle. Keith heard that. As he came out, and chuckles at what he saw. I finally got smart, turned off the bike, removed the tank bag, and did the squat.

Friday
Friday morning was bright, sunny and 72°. We took i-83, i-81 then I-88 out of Binghamton, through intermittent rain and then showers. Put rain gear on? All of it? I did. By the time we reached I-90 to Albany it was again bright and sunny. After a short stop at Saratoga Natl Battlefield we were enroute to RT-30 I think, to Brandon where we picked up Rt-73 to Rochester VT. The pavement abruptly stopped and we were making our way on milled dirt. Taking our time so not too much of a problem. Then we started up the hill. Just keep the speed up. Then we were going down a 9% grade. Whoa, pop it in 2nd and let the back wheel hold our speed down. We finally encountered pavement soonafter and were on our way up VT-100 to VT-2 to Montpelier then on to Barre arriving around 5:00 PM. Checked in the Hollow Inn then motored to the back lot to see Mark, Rob and Earl sitting there.

Barre was a great location for our rides and the Hollow Inn was very accommodating to our needs. Though aged, the rooms were huge and had doors to the adjacent rooms. Still, we dragged chairs out to the parking lot for the evening’s sessions. We dined at Ladder1, a converted fire house with great fare, up the street Fri, Sat, and the Quarry Sun. Enroute to Ladder1, I saw an XS1100 and a BMW headed the other way. Part of our party I asked at the diner. Yep. Earl and Rob reported a number of speed traps along VT-100 so I would factor that into the weekend rides. These weren’t going to be a fast ride, we’d observe town speed limits – probably the first XSEast where we stayed under 70mph.

After dinner and quick stop for some fuel and beer it was back to the inn for some libation. I was concerned about rain and cold over the weekend but the weather turned out fine.

Saturday
I met Pete, Ron and Vicky at breakfast the next morning and discussed the days plan with them. Close to 9:00 we met in the parking lot.

At my first stint as cruise director, I gave a morning brief but still forgot some items; I failed to cover lost procedures but the route was simple so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem. Next time I’ll write the brief items down. I found some challenges as Ride Captain. Not having a Garmin, I printed out route directions with time and event. I did review the routes but there were wrinkles each day so I’d have to stop and review Google Maps. The FJR mirrors don’t give good visibility so it was hard to track the back riders, though with on 7 bikes it wasn’t too hard. Fortunately the routes didn’t offer too many opportunities to get lost.

It was 43° Sat morning I had 6 layers plus my coat’s liner on. I was bundled up like Ralphie in Christmas Story. At least the cold kept the bugs down.
These weren’t going to be fast rides. Lots of LE Fri, so we observed town speed limits – probably the first XSEast where we stayed under 70mph. The Sat ride took us north on US-2 to VT-12 to Morristown. This took us through some truly amazing countryside, I’m glad I choose this venue. Next, VT-100 to Eden our first pit stop, then VT-118. Snow covered the top trail of Jay Peak. Yes, we’re in Vermont. VT-105 to Richford for our next fuel stop then lunch at the Crossings. Lunch was ahead of schedule but they could accommodate us – no one else was there.

By then it had warmed up to 72°. We spent about 1.5 hours there, then we prepared for departure. Doing a U-turn in the street Pete hit the curb and dumped his BMW on the street, breaking off the left foot pedal. Dang, he’s going to need that. Ron jumped in with the wrenching but couldn’t get the passenger pedal off the bike. Then we noticed the same part was on Keith’s BMW. His pedal came off easily and we were soon on the road again.

Left on VT-105 towards Jay. I was behind a tanker truck that was taking its time so I passed it with Keith, Earl and Rob. There was a wash-out at the pass with a light for one way traffic so I hoped those behind would catch up. In any case there was no other way. We motored down to VT-101 and waited. And waited and waited. Finally, Earl got a call from Rob saying they’d catch up. I took VT-101 down to Troy then VT-100 to Westfield. This wasn’t the way to go. We waited until everyone was together then returned to Troy to take VT-100 to Coventry to VT-14 south to Barre. We lost Mark and Rob along the way but they had comms and GPS and said they’d find their way back – but not with us. Back at the inn I pushed back dinner so we could enjoy some down time. I was sprinkling with a little rain after dinner.

Afterwards we were out in the parking lot under the eaves drinking whiskey and beer finishing out the day, standing in line much like Hank Hill in King of the Hill.

Sunday
The rain and cold had passed. Sun was warm and sunny. For Sunday I included Got Lost instructions, “Go east/west to NH-10, follow it south to Hanover, lunch at 1250 at Murphy’s on the Green.” It was the first warm weekend so the girls were out in abundance in their short shorts at Dartmouth.
NH-112 is a main highway with just one switchback on this side of Lincoln. The east side, the Kancamagus Highway, or the Kanc as the locals call it, looks a bit more challenging, NH-118 was a bit more our style but not that challenging. I couldn’t stop when I wanted to take pictures and there were many views worth taking. VT is still in early spring with the trees just budding.

Our route planning worked great, checkpoint and stops were pretty much on schedule. The gas stops went pretty quickly and I had to get people moving. I should’ve sighted on Google each intersection where’d we turn, so I didn’t have to slow and search for signs or guess which way to go. We could’ve picked a better place than Wayne’s Market but Lincoln was pretty crowded.

At Wentworth, right on NH-25A to NH-10. Around Lyme I turned off on some planned backroads but that didn’t pan out so back to NH-10. We made Hanover pretty much on schedule for lunch at Murphy’s on the Green, just off the green of Dartmouth. Being a bright and sunny day the coeds were out in force in their short shorts. Oh, to be 40 years younger.

After lunch I said those who wanted to get home fast could take I-89. Otherwise, we’d take the more leisurely VT-14 running along the White River valley. We arrived back at the inn by 3:30 and had some time for the group photo out front. Ladder1 was closed but Ron, Pete and Vicky ate at the Quarry Friday night and said the food was excellent. Reservations were made and we were off to downtown Barre.

Monday
We said our farewells. As Rob and Earl would going south we joined them for the ride to Albany. VT-14 to VT-63 to I-89. We picked up VT-107 at Royalton, to VT-100 to Killington, US-4 to Rutland. A lot of lights there but we continued west to Ft Ann and NY-149 west. Some sort of incident caused a lengthy back-up so we backtracked to US-4 down to NY-32 through Glen Falls. More lights. Finally, I-87 south with all the holiday traffic.
Rob and Earl would continue south on I-87, Keith and I would head west on I-90 to I-88. At the I-90 toll plaza, Rob was already through on the shoulder pointing me to the left for I-90. I thought Keith was right behind me so I zoomed on down I-90. After a several miles I slowed then stopped to wait for him. No sight of him. After another minute I rode to the exit, turned southwest on I-88 and waited, and waited. He took the right fork to I-87 and he had to do a turnaround at the next exit.

I have a UClear that I finally figured out how to get working but it only lasted about two hours. I called Keith. He was heading west on I-90 when just short of the I-88 turnoff but missed the exit. He stayed on I-90 for another 15 miles when I called. He was abreast US-30 but I couldn’t see it on my cellphone so I had him turnaround again to reach I-88. Finally, he blew by me and we continued on I-88 working hard to stay under 80. We saw some LE along the way, didn’t want to push it. I was thinking, this looks like a nice area, maybe we could do another XSEast around Bainbridge.

At Binghamton we jumped on I-81. Everyone was doing 80 even with a 55mph limit. Prior the PA border we made a rest stop. A local church was manning table with food and drink so we took advantage of that. On the lawn we about 50 crosses with hi-vis vests in honor of all the highway workers lost on the job since 1971. We decided we’d just do gas stops from then on.
Scranton, I-81 to Harrisburg. Right before I-78 merges into I-81 one of those electric traffic signs stated “Road incident 4 miles ahead.” Right past the exit and the merge traffic came to a standstill. Five lanes of traffic were merging in to one. A lot of clutching action with the left hand. Several motorcycles road up the shoulder but I wasn’t going to stoop to that. Eventually we came to the incident. A Suburban towing a house trailer had a blowout and jackknifed leaving one lane open. Past that we stopped at the next rest stop to hydrate and prepare for the final legs.

Keith turned off on MD-77 at Catoctin Mountain to head home. I continued on to Frederick then took US-15 south to Point of Rocks. There was slow traffic ahead but I took advantage of the merge lanes in the several roundabouts to pass them. US-15 to Leesburg then Rt-7 to Tyson’s Corner then local roads to home. That was a 13 hour day with about 650 miles. My butt was sore.

Epilogue
I’d say XSEast 2019 was a success even though it only 8 attended.
We talked about next year. I’ll go if I can get just one other. Floated ideas, Bainbridge NY, central PA off of I-80/I-81, western NY or possibly northern VA between the interstates. Or we could rerun Mullens WV. I emailed Marty, he has some ideas. Stay tuned.
Now, I’m looking forward to XSSouth. I hope to see many of you there.

Nice write-up Darrell.
I'm happy that XSEast lives on and that Barre worked out well for this one.
Thanks for taking it on.
Hope to see you guys next year.
Just gotta recover from a COMPLETELY and utterly out of the blue open heart surgery last week!

Nice write-up Darrell.
I'm happy that XSEast lives on and that Barre worked out well for this one.
Thanks for taking it on.
Hope to see you guys next year.
Just gotta recover from a COMPLETELY and utterly out of the blue open heart surgery last week!